Mass Effect 3

[danbot]

What was it, Danbot?

Sorry man, just saw this now.

Integration of synthetic and organic.

[Talk Show Host]

I finished this earlier and I loved it. I've no idea how the ending was changed since launch but I really liked my ending.

Pretty fantastic.

I envy you. Don't read anything about the ending's holes because there is a chance you will feel differently after.

[Alex W.]

D:

[K]

Sorry man, just saw this now.

Integration of synthetic and organic.

My man. Loved that ending.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

So, having ignored all the ME3 DLC (and indeed the series) since finishing it a year ago, all the Citadel talk got me in the mood for one final playthrough with absolutely everything. Yes, even bloody Pinnacle Station (my broken and super crispy post-ME3 Shep needs that retirement pad).

Thought I'd change things up a tad so I spared La Williams for once, possibly just so I can kill her personally later, not sure yet. Anyway, finished up ME2 the other night and the Suicide Mission is still a thrilling 'fuck yeah!' finalé to die for, Lair of the Shadow Broker is still the best Space Cop Buddy movie never made. And it looks so good as well, much nicer than ME3 for some reason I can't quite fathom. Perhaps it's the lighting or maybe they just have less going on so they had more polys to play with, I don't know but yes, definitely the best looker of the series. If I could get a game that had the story, atmosphere and sense of exploration from 1; the graphics, characterisation, journal and sub quests, sense of fun, and ambitious end game of 2; and the gameplay mechanics, character interactions and presentation of 3, well I'd probably have my perfect game right there.

As for ME3, just about to do Palaven and looking forward to checking out Citadel later. God, I'd kill for a Widow right now, these crappy starter snipers are bobbins!

Edit: Well blimey. I played through Leviathan today and guess I should hold my hands up and say yeah, that was actually pretty good, much better than I was expecting. I figured it would be another 'no bro dialogue' job ala Overlord/Arrival but nope, Edi, Javik and James were pretty damn chatty throughout! Plus that *thing* in the scientist guy's lab was hilarious. Cruel but hilarious.

Oh and a bonus mention to "The Vanguard of our destruction. How's *that* working for you, big guy?". That's my girl.

[df0]

Just finished ME2 as part of my trilogy play through. After this, I guess eighth, play through I am still overwhelmed by ME2. Such a quality game. Now, time for my second play through of ME3. The first play through left a terrible impression. Now with all story related DLC in place, let's see if if ME3 can impress me.

[Alex W.]

Top stuff, Citadel. And I haven't even thrown the party yet.

[Alex W.]

Are there any furniture items from the store beyond what you can buy right after the end?

[Endemion]

Are there any furniture items from the store beyond what you can buy right after the end?

Have you tried playing on the crane grab machine in the arcade? See if you have better luck than a certain foul-mouthed old squadmate

[Alex W.]

Oh yeah, I did that. Mostly music so far. Actual furniture later then?

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Just about to do Sanctuary then hitting Citadel with the force of a thousand hurricanes. Might get properly in character and finish off this bottle of gin first too.

[Endemion]

Oh yeah, I did that. Mostly music so far. Actual furniture later then?

No furniture as such but at least one must have vanity item for the apartment iirc

[Alex W.]

I did get a spiffy plush Volus.

[God Is A Girl]

Oh man this was funny as hell in places. Slightly annoyed that Kasumi didn't show up even though she's supposed to and I got her as a war assets, which is part of the game, but meh, looked up the videos online, didn't miss much, just annoyed there was no reason for her NOT to show up. Bloody glitchy game. I also enjoyed the villain reveal, didn;t see that coming at all and only guessed it just as you heard the voice/saw the silhouette.

Best part?

Wrex's intro and Grunt's all. Apparently Krogans and gravity are not friends.

Kasumi makes an entrance after you investigate the 'Mysterious Device' in the Silver Coast Casino. As per usual, she makes for a flighty personality at the party and her quips throw everyone off-guard.

The nemesis reveal threw up an interesting volte-face for me, inasmuch as I'd been merrily coasting along on cruise control - now at the business end of my Insanity playthrough with every sub-quest/expansion completed, every star system tapped out and only the final assault/extended cut pending - when all of a sudden my trusty Black Widow X met its match. In respect of gruelling showdowns, how does one prepare for

shadow boxing

or at the very least "boxing clever"?

Answer: you pretty much don't.

My FemShep clone used all the tactics I did throughout the game: cloaking, sniping and bombing. Without anticipating the full force of my own latent talents, I came ill-prepared and was thoroughly flummoxed for well over two hours. It was quite the wake-up call, but little did I know that you can't actually defeat your clone: you simply gnash your teeth while skipping between two checkpoints; eventually depleting enough of its health to trigger the final cutscene.

In terms of playing out the Citadel DLC for all its worth, how does the Combat Simulator shape up as score attack? Pretty darn good, especially if you've checked out the upgrade options. Earning a Bronze Token gives you access to a stored inventory of extra stages and the chance to partner up with Wrex, Jack, Grunt, Jacob, Miranda, Samara, Kasumi and Zaeed. Quite the paying proposition if you're going for broke and intend to max out those final few achievements.

As others have noted, Shepard's Party is the be-all-and-end-all of the last hurrah. Two highlights for me were finding Mordin's postscript and viewing the glorious group photo taken the night before. This realtime capture incorporating my FemShep would've made the perfect Xbox theme. Memories... light the corners of our minds.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

I'll probably write 10 billion words about Citadel at some point. For now, I'll just say that the chance to team up with Wrex and Zaeed is one that should never be passed up, I gave the big guy a shotgun with an omni blade on and he pretty much solos entire arenas while Zaeed and I looked on from the back. Can't believe they've done Pinnacle Station-but-Really-Good!

Speaking of Zaeed,

doomed though they were I loved his attempts to chat up Samara.

Also, I was idiot enough to do the pull-ups. I just couldn't let Vega win. No way, Jose.

I wish there was some way to get a screenie of the photo on 360

[Spacehost]

I'll probably write 10 billion words about Citadel at some point. For now, I'll just say that the chance to team up with Wrex and Zaeed is one that should never be passed up, I gave the big guy a shotgun with an omni blade on and he pretty much solos entire arenas while Zaeed and I looked on from the back. Can't believe they've done Pinnacle Station-but-Really-Good!

AWESOME BIT

AWESOME BIT

I wish there was some way to get a screenie of the photo on 360

Spoilers. I know they're little things but part of the joy of Citadel is discovering them.

[Alex W.]

Miranda taking the piss out of my unfortunate fish genocide.

I feel like I'm still going to be playing this DLC in a month. The Armax Arcade is a nice change of pace from multiplayer as far as shooting galleries go. Envy anyone who gets to play through the game for the first time with this installed.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

If nothing else, the most spot on perfect moment of all is surely that moment when Citadel's Bad Person yells venomously (paraphrasing) "Why you? What's so special about you and not me?" and the obvious reply is Shep ain't wearing hockey pads, while corny and cheesy as all hell is because awesome as Shep is, she/the game would be so much less without her friends.

It nailed what ultimately made the series special. The plots may have been paper thin at times and full of holes or missteps but a cast as endearing as these games have had more than makes up for it. These guys were the best, y'know? Shep, the squad, the crew, the Normandy...their interactions and adventures made for a delightful escape from a world that just seems to get grimmer and less hopeful by the day. Yes, the producers believe that the theme of the series was about conflict between creator and created, on both micro and macro scales, but I would respectfully suggest that the true theme is how awesome we can all be together, united. Space Hippies, man. With, er, really fuck off cool guns.

Give me more. Give me...

[God Is A Girl]

The glitch match in the Citadel combat simulator is pretty cool. Hard as well, it's the last achievement I need.

How do you kickstart that one?

I've just spent all of my Silver Tokens unlocking the Bronze and Silver prizes, but thus far haven't cracked 6,000 for Gold. It's nails playing on Insanity... however the sheer weight of numbers has now handed me my 'Veteran' badge [ie, kill 5,000 enemies]. Quite the timely reward, given that I started ME3 on 10/4/2012.

[Spacehost]

Because we can't really got three posts without remembering how awesome Zaeed is, I'm posting this again.

[Alex W.]

Then there's...

The way that after you retake the Normandy, it turns into the finale of every '80s action movie ever, with the cops showing up and you walking off to meet your posse.

I have to agree with K's take on the villain, this one had a resonance that Kai Leng just couldn't match.

I can't imagine where ME4 could possibly go after the end of ME3, except the past. Although I would...

...totally be up for playing part of the rescue team on Mindoir, or participating in the Skyllian Blitz, while events of Shepard's story played out in the distant background.

[Ktisis]

I think that Citadel proves beyond a doubt that you don't need a huge galactic scale threat to have a great time in that universe. It's been said by people before, but give me a small scale 'villain of the week' type game in this universe with a great cast of characters and i'll be perfectly happy. Bioware only ever seem to adopt that tactic with DLC unfortunately, though I guess Dragon Age 2 kinda counts? And look how that turned out

[Alex W.]

I thought ME2 did a great job of slowly escalating from a mysterious new threat with personal stakes, to something altogether more drastic.

Edit - Actually ME was surprisingly low key to begin with. I genuinely wasn't expecting the reveal of the enemy on Virmire.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Yeah, the unfortunate thing about Dragon Age II is that it did precisely what many have asked of the developers for years now...and it was fucking horrible and boring with it.

But that's just poor execution, the idea itself is sound and deserves another shot. Preferably in space with a bunch of awesome space bros. Ahem.

[Spacehost]

If they just announced that they were going to make Mass Effect Adventures: The Dudetastic Chronicles, a series of paid chapters in the ME3 engine, I would buy them call.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Seriously. Let's put the band back together, patch up the Normandy, open up some inactive relays and see what's out there.

Edit: another great thing about Citadel - getting hold of an old skool M7 Lancer. Proper OG shit, son, you can keep your poncey thermal clips.

[Alex W.]

Zaeed: The Jessie Years

The Citadel's Wildest Police Chases

Blasto VIII

It's a shame that they don't have the resources to just have a B team cranking out episodes until the next one.

I couldn't help but read Citadel's vid with the Salarian as a hint of things to come.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

It was a hell of a ride, let's close it out the only way that's appropriate.

Later, kids.

[Ktisis]

Vigil is just so good, I could honestly listen to it forever I think.

[Alex W.]

Still digging into this. Did the Arena challenges, loved the last one. Now using the credits to save up for a Paladin which just wasn't an option before.

Vega's visit was a laugh. I did it, BTW.

Is there a way to invite Chakwas? It seems wrong not to have the Normandy's resident alcoholic.

Edit-

"I love you, Grunt."

"Heh, heh, heh."

Best DLC ever